Former Md. congressional candidate charged with illegal voting

A former Maryland Democratic congressional candidate has been charged with illegally voting in the state in two recent elections.

Wendy Rosen — a small business owner who was initially this year’s Democratic nominee in the Eastern Shore-based 1st congressional district — was charged in the circuit court for Baltimore County for voting in Maryland in the 2006 and 2010 general elections “without the legal right to do so,” according to a release Thursday from Maryland’s Office of the State Prosecutor.

Rosen was the Democratic nominee against Rep. Andy Harris (R) until September, when she quit the race after the state Democratic Party revealed that voting records showed Rosen had been registered in both Florida and Maryland since at least 2006 and that she had cast ballots in both states. The incident drew some notice because Republicans and Democrats spent much of this year sparring over alleged voter fraud.

Because her name remained on the ballot, Rosen got 28 percent of the vote on Election Day last month. John LaFerla, the Democratic Party-endorsed write-in candidate, got 4 percent. Harris won reelection with 63 percent of the vote.

Each of the two instances of alleged illegal voting — in 2006 and 2010 — is punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of $2,500, the prosecutor’s office said. Rosen had not responded to a request for comment as of this posting.